Monday, May 26, 2008

And in the spirit of symmetry, or something

so, I finally steeled myself and started looking at the progboy blogs, hoping maybe I could lift & riff off someone else's homework on McCain, you know, McCain (with appropriate credit, *ahemkoffsomepeople*).

first link I hit is called "Old Man McCain," which may have some useful shit, but I was distracted, unfortunately, by the current top entry (of course they're quoting fucking Aravosis):

From McCain's recently "disclosed" medical records:

McCain's most recent exams show a range of health issues common inaging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and inFebruary had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily curedskin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps takenout during a routine colonoscopy in March.

Americablog has questions:

Anybody else troubled that candidate McCain was running for theGOP nomination, went for cancer surgery, and didn't bother tellinganyone? What else isn't he bothering to tell us, and won't he tell usin the future? If this is McCain's standard for disclosure about hismedical condition, we'd need weekly document dumps of his medicalfiles because McCain clearly has a policy of hiding his true medicalcondition while running for president.

Considering that John McCain has had bouts of skin cancer for the past15 years, it will take a lot more than a three-hour peek at hismedical records to assure Americans that he is healthy enough for thejob. This so-called disclosure of his medical records is absurd.Either McCain is hiding something, or he is acting like somebody whois hiding something. Why not give the press unlimited access to theserecords, if there is nothing to hide?

And why is McCain refusing to release his psychiatric reports? Ifanything, his mental deterioration is even more worrisome than hisphysical ailments.

and, well, No. Just: No.

Hi, I'm less than half his age and I've had a (early stage knock wood thank fuck) skin cancer removed, a melanoma, in fact (and am going back for more surgery for another suspicious mole tomorrow, always fun, hence my eye getting caught by this). Squamous cell cancer is a lot less serious and a lot more common. It's not like going in to have a brain tumor removed or something. See above re "easily cured?" Even melanoma is if you catch it early enough. A -lot- of people have frigging skin cancer these days, you know it? And there'll only be more as the ozone continues to thin.

As for the psychiatric records: you know what, actually, no, we don't need to look at those, in fact. By their deeds you will know them. Bush has probably never been to a psychiatrist or other mental health worker in his life; does that make him mentally healthier? PTSD is just -normal- for people who've been through a goddam war, hi, the point isn't the diagnosis, the point is, how well does this person function? how does he behave? Which is perfectly observable from his record, public and offstage.

You know, it really isn't any port in a storm here. That kind of shit hurts a lot of other people far more than it does McCain. This is playing on the same ageism, stigmatization of mental illness, and even ffs cancer that enables the craptastic health insurance system we have now, not to mention all kinds of ableist/discriminatory fun.

Really, I hope nothing ever happens to this blogger, you know? Or, rather, it won't, probably, because getting sick isn't just a potential liability in a presidential frontrunner whose veep we may not want as president instead; it's a moral deficiency, clearly. Getting old, too, for that matter.

I mean, appreciate the viva la vulva sentiment and all? but, well, "shocking" is really fucking boring. Just post the damn quote, you know? -I- hadn't heard it before, it would've been plenty on its own. Really. I wasn't looking to have my bourgeois epatéd; I was looking for -useful- shit. and: JiSM? the name of your blog is "JiSM?" (John Sydney McCain, geddit?! HAW HAW) Really? god, I'd almost forgotten why I'd been avoiding all this shit for so long...

Really, though, Beavis: wtf? Who is your intended audience here, and what is it you're trying to communicate? Serious question.

also, per the euphemism:

"if you're posting the picture, you really ought to be able to type it."

17 comments:

Word. Seriously, leave a body part shared by half the human race out of this, dude.

One of the few "progboy" blogs I can think of that is good on McCain without resorting to giant vulvae is The Poor Man Institute. It's not perfect--nothing is--but it's better than this crud, certainly.

And yeah, do we really need to reach for health issues? COMMON health issues shared by non-McCain-people? Do we lack other material on this stain?--No, there's an abundance of it, as you capably demonstrate. So this really is one of those says-more-about- the-author-than-it-does-about-McCain deals. Unsurprising from Aravosis, I guess, but still disappointing, because

Bush has probably never been to a psychiatrist or other mental health worker in his life; does that make him mentally healthier?

Yeah, THAT. I don't want people stigmatized for having had treatment! I don't want them stigmatized for having mental illness, either. I merely want the President not to have a hard-on for barging into other countries and laying waste to their populations for no better reason than that Thomas Fucking Friedman thought it might be a fine idea, or really, fill in the blank with any reason at all, 'cause there isn't one that makes any sense, so why not go nuts--this administration certainly did.

This isn't difficult to grasp and it doesn't require a peek into anyone's medical records or frigging beaver shots. Again, as you said, it writes itself.

and to be fair, many of the other links here are used from other, better-known (or at least as well as, in the case of Assholeosis) progblogs. just, it's like, it's rather depressing when this is the first thing you find...

People who get this attached to an organization or movement insult others, on behalf of the organization. Academics routinely accuse one another of being CIA agents during controversies that have some political dimension.

No one does it as well as you do. ;) And thanks for your amazing comment on my blog, BTW.

But yeah, seriously. I don't read a lot of big liberal blogs, but the ones I do go to are Lawyers, Guns and Money and Obsidian Wings, which are usually good for actual political analysis and not bullshit.

Frankly, I don't see what his medical records have to do with this at all.

It might be of some import if said candidate had a terminal illness of some kind. Otherwise I just don't see it.

I'm not really interested in politics, don't live in the US either, but I'd like for anyone's past medical history to remain their own medical history, not the nation's property.

Because people are so obsessed about sex, and yet make it a taboo like no other, I can bet there won't be a transsexual candidate having a serious chance, even if he or she looks good and without any hints of their previous life, physically.

Because the media is going to go and unearth all those past records in an attempt to stain their reputation and make them seem incompetent. And sadly, it'd probably work.

It's funny that when people on the internet discuss no-hoper Ron Paul (who is, I think, older than McCain), they go for the issues and why he would be a crappy president based on matters of economy etc. But when discussing McCain, who is a serious candidate, all this "he is old/he is dead" stuff comes out instead. I feel that if anyone seriously thought there was any chance of him dying before a four-year term was up (or if people seriously thought the stresses of his job would tip him over the edge in some way), there would have been some heavy pressure on him not to run. But people like him live forever, to annoy people as long as possible.

Also, it's a good point from Sara about a transsexual candidate. I believe New Zealand had a high-ranking politician (not sure if she was PM or not) who was transsexual, and that was pretty impressive. But the world is probably going to have to wait a thousand years before anyone sees a transsexual president being a possibility. Anyway, it's sad that such things have to be dug out and gone through like this - it's so sordid, and it distracts from the politician's actual policies.

Celia, I can think of two reasons for the Paul/McCain discrepancy. First, Paul believes in things that are generally regarded as nutty, such as the abolition of the Federal Reserve, so it's easier to attack him on the issues. He has many defenders, but none who can sound mainstream. McCain supporters can and often do mount credible defenses of their candidate.

And second, because Paul is not a serious candidate, nobody thinks of him as a potential President; in particular, nobody talks about capacity to serve, and the media never made a fuss about his age. This also ensures there aren't many rabidly anti-Paul partisans.

"As for the psychiatric records: you know what, actually, no, we don't need to look at those, in fact."

Thank thank thank you! I'm not a McCain supporter but as a person with PTSD, and who has struggled with anxiety and depression, I completely agree we don't need to look at his records or stigmatize him if he does have PTSD. I read this disgusting article about McCain most likely having PTSD and that it would make him an unstable president. >< Oh yes, let's stigmatize those of us with mental health issues even further. As you said, how well does he function? For someone who spent all those years as a POW I'd say he's functioning just fine (even if he is a Republican. ^_~)

I happen to agree with you that coarse language can turn women and minorities off to blogs, leading to utter segregation of the blogosphere, and so I am sensitive to your comments. On the other hand, this is one of very, very few instances in which I've resorted to this sort of language to make a point. My policy is not to use coarse of vulgar language at my twenty-or-so blogs, and to discourage others from doing so.

As for John McCain's medical records, I think John McCain's medical and psychiatric records are relevant if they demonstrate that he is too unstable to be trusted with life and death decisions that effect literally billions of people. If McCain's medical records show that he frequently has to be put in physical restraints because he attacks co-workers and his family, except when he takes his medicine, but he refuses to take his medicine, then that would certainly be relevant to the question of whether he is stable enough to be president of the United States.

Although that might sound exaggerated, McCain's violent, vulgar and vitriolic public behavior is what makes his psychiatric records an important topic of consideration.

It all depends what's in his medical records, but we'll probably never know because he only released them to a few reporters, for a few hours, under heavy guard, and with no opportunity to copy and study the thousands of pages of documents.

I've reviewed clients' psychiatric records and I KNOW it would take me longer than that to draw an informed opinion just about the psychiatric records, much less the medical records.

I am glad you saw fit to take my um response into consideration; thing is, it's not "coarseness" that is my concern, here, as a woman: I am not a delicate little fucking flower. It felt gratuitous and juvenile and took me right the fuck out of the point you were trying to make--to wit, John McCain is a hateful ratfucker--and made me think: what the hell is this person's problem?

Dude, it's not "shocking" to see a woman's cunt on a blog; it was, however, inappropriate. People have office jobs and aren't expecting that on a political blog?

More important, and I really can't stress this enough, it doesn't make any goddam sense.

If McCain's medical records show that he frequently has to be put in physical restraints because he attacks co-workers and his family, except when he takes his medicine, but he refuses to take his medicine, then that would certainly be relevant to the question of whether he is stable enough to be president of the United States.

--oh, jesus, on second thought you know what, I am sorry, but -really-: just fuck off.

signed,

person who takes "crazy" meds and still hasn't had to regularly be put in restraints, otherwise I probably couldn't function as I am now, much less in the capacity that McCain has for all these years. Give me a goddam BREAK. Just--no: really, just: fucking NO.